IPL 2023 has seen Shubman Gill taking his game to another level with the Gujarat Titans opener hitting truckload of runs while helping the franchise reach a second straight final. Gill’s tally of 851 runs is the highest for the season and in all likeliness, he will win the Orange Cap.
Gill’s stunning form has seen him collect three centuries in his last four matches. He’s averaging a staggering 60.79 with his runs scored at an excellent strike-rate of 156.43.
The 24-year-old’s closest competitor for the Orange Cap is Faf du Plessis but his season drew to a close with Royal Challengers Bangalore failing to qualify for the playoffs. The next best in the list who is still theoretically in the race is Chennai Super Kings’ Devon Conway but he’s a whopping 226 runs behind Gill.
With his current form, Gill can surely belt another hundred and could potentially break Virat Kohli’s monumental record of 973 runs – the most by any batter in a single season.
Gill will have to score 122 to match Kohli and there won’t be a better stage than to do it in the IPL 2023 final when defending champions GT take on four-time winners CSK tonight in Ahmedabad.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar surely feels that Kohli’s record is well within the reach of the youngster.
“Yes it can happen. It looks possible. If Gujarat bat first then Gill will have a big opportunity. If Chennai bat first get all out for 180 then 122 will look impossible,” Gavaskar told India Today.
“But yes, records are meant to be broken. And this is a record unlike Sachin Tendulkar’s run in Test cricket or Muttiah Muralitharan’s 800 Test wickets, those are the ones which will be very difficult to break. But here it is all about 122 runs. If Gujarat bat first then it can definitely happen,” he added.
Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler is second on the list of most runs in a single edition of IPL, a record he achieved last season while accumulating 863 runs in 17 innings.
